Władysław Szpilman (1911–2000). “The” pianist

Keeping the memory alive
 

As the years went by, the story of Władysław Szpilman’s extraordinary survival during the war years was almost forgotten. The world only learned about the Jewish pianist when in 1998, his son Andrzej published the full version of his father’s memoirs in Germany, and later also in Britain, Italy, the Netherlands, Japan and the United States. In Poland, the book appeared for the first time in 2001, where it remained high up on the bestseller lists for months. Since then, it has been translated into 42 languages.

The English-language version of the book then fell into the hands of the film director Roman Polański. Polański knew immediately what the subject of his next film would be. It was his film version of the memoirs that had the greatest impact on awareness of Szpilman’s incredible life story among the general public. The film-maker and the pianist have a great deal in common. Like Władysław Szpilman, Roman Polański survived the Holocaust. Both lost many members of their family in the Shoah. Both had first-hand experience of being trapped behind the walls of the Jewish ghetto: Polański in the Kraków district of Podgórze, from which he was able to escape, and Szpilman in Warsaw. Recreating Szpilman’s story on film gave Polański the opportunity to process his own experiences during the war. He has confirmed that this was the case in many interviews on the subject. At the same time, he explained that it was too difficult and painful for him to tell his own story on film. “I allowed a lot of my own experiences to enter the film. My mother was killed in the war, while my father only just survived a concentration camp. While I was searching for him, at some point, I arrived at a place where there were thousands of people. Some of them had already been vegetating there for more than a day, some were dying, others were crying or praying. Of course, our families are especially important to us. If a person finds out that their family is dead, why should they continue to live? He lives for his passion, and that’s why I believe that it was thanks to music that Władysław Szpilman survived the war.”[22]

“The Pianist” premièred in Warsaw on 24 October 2002, over two years after the death of Władysław Szpilman on 6 July 2000, aged 88. His son Andrzej admitted that it would have been traumatic for his father to watch his own story on screen, particularly the scene in which he is separated from his family.

The film was showered with awards. Among others, it received the Palme d’Or for the best film in Cannes, seven Césars from the French Académie des Arts et Techniques du Cinéma and three Oscars for “Best Director”, “Best Lead Actor” (for Adrien Brody as Władysław Szpilman) and “Best Adapted Screenplay”. And although “The Pianist” was filmed in English as a French-Polish-German-British co-production, whereby all the lead roles were played by foreign actors, Roman Polański likes to say that it is a Polish film. The critics regard it as being Polański’s life work. In 2016, “The Pianist” was included in the BBC’s list of the best 100 films of the 21st century.[23] A musical inspired by Szpilman’s story was also shown on Broadway. It was due to be premièred in July 2020 to mark the 20th anniversary of Szpilman’s death, although the performance was postponed due to the Covid pandemic. 

Monika Stefanek, October 2020